40 Years of AVM/Fritz: From BTX Hobby Project to Router Icon | heise online

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What began as a student project in Berlin is now the market leader in German living rooms: FRITZ! GmbH, better known to some under its former name AVM, is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

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The four students at the time, Johannes Nill, Peter Faxel, Ulrich Müller-Albring, and Jörg-Detlef Gebert, founded AVM according to their own statements in 1986. At that time, however, it was still a hobby project. It wasn't until August 26, 1987, that the first entry was made in the commercial register as AVM Projektvertrieb Kommunikationsysteme GmbH. The headquarters have been in Berlin ever since.

From BTX service provider to ISDN pioneer

The abbreviation AVM was a relic from the early days as a BTX service provider and stood for “Audiovisuelles Marketing” (Audiovisual Marketing). In the mid-1980s, the four founders wanted to use the then-new Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) to make the screen text (BTX) of the Deutsche Bundespost accessible to the then-young PC market. After the first development orders, their own products were developed from 1988 onwards.

With ISDN pro cards like the A1 and especially the B1, AVM achieved a breakthrough: According to its own statements, the active ISDN card B1 became the world's best-selling active ISDN controller. Active means that the card processed the data with its own digital signal processor (DSP). The passive A1 models, on the other hand, relied on the PC's main processor. AVM's customers included well-known companies such as Deutsche Telekom, Datev, and Novell. The first cards were for the ISA bus (Industry Standard Architecture), with later versions for the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI). AVM produced B1 controllers until 2013.

Bild 1 von 3<br>AVMs ISDN-Controller (3 Bilder)

AVM A1

(Bild: heise medien

In 1995, the Fritzcard followed as the first offshoot with a focus on end customers. While the previous pro models sometimes cost several thousand German Marks (DM), the Fritzcard was available from around 200 DM. Also included: its own Fritz software. AVM's market share in Germany for ISDN cards is said to have peaked at 80 percent in 2004.

The Fritzbox cleans up

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The real turning point in the company's history came in 2004. Until then, for internet via DSL and telephony behind the “phone socket”, you still needed a jumble of devices: a splitter, an analog phone or ISDN system with phones, a DECT base for cordless devices, and a DSL modem and a simple router to connect to the internet.

AVM put an end to this confusion in two stages: On March 18, 2004, the company announced the first Fritzbox at the then world's largest IT trade fair, CeBIT. It integrated the modem and router, significantly reducing the clutter. In the following years, more and more functions were integrated into the box: ISDN technology, WLAN for mobile devices was added, and later the box also incorporated the DECT base. In the end, only one device remained; with the Fritzbox 7270 in 2007, the modern all-in-one router was born. Modern devices also come with smart home integration, mesh WLAN, and of course fiber optic support.

Timeline with the most important AVM and Fritz products. Fritzboxes have been the most important business area for the company for years.

(Image: Fritz)

The success proved the concept right: In 2010, the Fritzbox reached its highest router market share in Germany at 68 percent. The business with internet providers helped: AVM also sells its routers to providers, who provide them to their customers for a monthly rent or free of charge, sometimes as the original, sometimes as a black “Homeserver”.

In 2024, the ownership structures have changed: Imker Capital Partners, through its Luxembourg subsidiary Rucio Investment, took over the majority of AVM. The founders have retired from the business due to age. Under the new leadership, Fritz, under a new name, is also aiming for internationalization, including its own webshop. Discount campaigns and offers are planned there for the anniversary.

(mma)

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This article was originally published in

German.

It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.

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